Mine Safety

ARTICLES ABOUT MINE SAFETY BY DATE - PAGE 2

Democrats in the U.S. House held a forum this week to discuss mine safety issues. According to the Democrats, including Rep. Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia, Republicans are dragging their feet on looking into recent accidents. The Republicans say they only want the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration to finish its examination first. Given that accidents have killed 16 American miners since Jan. 1, we hope this isn't becoming a political football. Nor should cost be the only issue in mine safety.

I read with great disdain the Associated Press story on Feb. 2 about West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin calling for all coal companies in the state to shut down for safety checks and for an accelerated schedule by state inspectors. I'd be willing to wager this idea came from various coal companies' legal departments. Everything one does in life is fraught with risk, from waking up in the morning to retiring in the evening. Coal mining just happens to be an occupation with a higher than average chance of becoming a statistic.

By Ellen Smith Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | April 6, 2004

As the writer of a national newsletter on mine safety and health law, I want to comment on the March 30 editorial, "Rules for hard-coal mines miss the target." Pottsville-area mine owners Randy and Cindy Rothermel have tried to challenge the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) on ventilation and other regulations, and failed for good reason. These regulations, and others, have helped cut the incidence of lung diseases in U.S. miners and decrease mining accidents and fatalities.

When people in eastern Pennsylvania think about coal, they think about anthracite. There are few places on earth that it's found, and eastern Pennsylvania is one of them. It's harder than the more common bituminous coal, and cleaner burning. And the heyday of the anthracite coal industry is almost a century past. Most of that is history, with culm banks and the Lehigh-Delaware canal system reminders of the day when this coal fueled a growing nation. As recently as 1995, there were still as many as 60 anthracite coal mining operations in eastern Pennsylvania, primarily in Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties.

The near tragedy that occurred in the Quecreek Mine on July 28, 2002, served as a wake-up call to state agencies and mining companies. But state Attorney General Mike Fisher and U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan announced last week that no criminal charges will be filed related to the mine accident that trapped nine men hundreds of feet below the earth for three days. An investigating grand jury found inadequate evidence to support reckless conduct in the accident, the Associated Press reported Friday, though it was blamed on poor mine maps and an inadequate regulatory system.

In reaction to last year's Quecreek Mine incident, in which nine miners were trapped in a flooded coal mine for three days, the state is trying to find previously unknown mine maps and is asking anyone who might have one to bring it to a meeting Wednesday in Schuylkill County. "One of the things we learned at Quecreek was that inaccurate maps led to a near catastrophe," said Kurt Knaus, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. "There are maps being held in the public and private sector, and what we want to do is make sure we have the most up-to-date information."

By Dave D. Lauriski Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | July 28, 2003

The Quecreek Mine rescue was a truly amazing drama complete with a storybook ending. Exactly one year ago, the peaceful, bucolic dairy farm of Bill and Lori Arnold, was transformed from a Norman Rockwell landscape into a bustling, noisy construction site full of monster machinery, drilling equipment, the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) mobile command center and seismic monitoring system, and dozens of rescue personnel from federal, state and local jurisdictions. It's no exaggeration to say that the drama that unfolded between July 24 and July 28, 2002, will go down as one of the greatest rescues in our nation's history -- from that first gush of water that spelled trouble for 18 coal miners to the unforgettable moment 77 hours later when nine cold, hungry, but extremely relieved men were brought to the earth's surface.

By Cecil E. Roberts, Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | July 31, 2002

Like all Americans, United Mine Workers of America members nationwide were praying hard for the nine miners trapped underground in the Quecreek Mine, and we cheered as loudly as anyone when they were rescued. The miners survived, thanks in large part to their own common sense and the expertise of the rescuers above ground trying to save them. Many people played a role in the successful rescue effort, from the trapped miners themselves to the governor to representatives of state and federal agencies to firefighters to health care workers to the clergy and to the many volunteers who brought food and comfort to rescue workers and waiting family members.

Gov. Mark S. Schweiker announced Monday the formation of a special commission to study the causes of the accident at the Quecreek Mine in Somerset County. "We've got to get to the bottom of what happened," Schweiker told reporters at the state Capitol. Families of the nine trapped miners "are owed an investigation, and we intend to provide them one as best we can." One theory is that a map used by the miners was incorrect. They broke through the wall of the flooded, adjacent Saxman Mine, which their maps showed to be 300 feet away.

by GEORGIE PAUFF, (A free-lance story for The Morning Call) | May 4, 2000

Coal mining is a dangerous occupation. It always has been dangerous and will continue to be as long as people are willing to go underground to mine anthracite. Two of the foremost dangers found in a deep anthracite mine are the formation of certain gases and a lack of oxygen. Either condition must be detected quickly and the miners evacuated to safety. During the 18th century, such conditions were detected with various hit-or-miss methods. A lack of oxygen would cause the candle on a miner's cap, or one carried by the miner, to go out. The flame would get larger and change color if certain gases were in the area.